Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Out of the Smoke, into the Fire

Part the Fourth:

Comburo

"Sumimasen?"

The voice is so soft she nearly misses it, but it's the only Japanese she's heard in months, and this instantly draws her attention.

Turning slowly around from her place beside Naruto in the middle of a local park, Sakura comes face to face with the most visually stunning couple she's ever seen. She's faintly certain her jaw drops.

Before her stands a tall man with rich, tanned skin and deep black hair pulled back into an elegant french braid, long enough that it reaches the small of his back. His eyes are the color of ice above water, a clash between sky blue and the lightest of greys. Adorning his lean figure is a plain blue t-shirt accented with a black leather jacket and jeans. He meets Sakura's gaze unflinchingly, and in those unnerving eyes she sees wisdom, so deep and unbelievably knowing that she can't help but be entranced.

The woman beside him is no less remarkable. Dressed in a similar fashion—but adorning high-heeled black boots rather than plain Vans and a violet corset-styled shirt beneath her leather jacket—she gazes upon them with large lavender eyes filled with hundreds of years of knowledge. Her thick blonde hair is wavy and every bit as long as her partner's, blowing gently in the ongoing breeze. To Sakura, she appears distinctly foreign, which is quite a feat considering there are only a handful of countries she hasn't visited, but for the life of her she can't place the woman's nationality. Her eyes are set on a wide face with full lips and a nose that turns up slightly at the tip, her pale skin smooth and flawless. Both of them are undeniably beautiful.

And they're Pytes. Sakura smells the scent of her kin the moment she inhales. By the way Naruto stiffens beside her, she knows he does as well.

"Hajimemashite, Sakura-san," the man continues, voice soft.

"Excuse me for being rude," Sakura says slowly in Japanese, eyes shifting to meet his, "but who are you?"

"My name is Kirashi, and this is my mate, Ariadne. I take it you received my message?"

Sakura splutters none too gracefully. "Mate? You mean like what they say in the old legends?"

He smiles at her. "That is exactly what I mean." He holds up his hand—fingers intertwined with Ariadne's—as if to show their bond.

"You actually believe that stuff?"

"I don't just believe it, Sakura-san." Kirashi smiles again. "I know it's true."

Crazy. This man must be a lunatic. Sakura offers a weak upturn of her lips. "I'm sorry for intruding on such...delicate matters. I'm sure what you contacted me about must hold great significance."

"The subject of mates is exactly what we called upon you to discuss, actually." This time it's the woman—Ariadne—who speaks. Sakura flicks wide green eyes to focus on her somber form. Ariadne meets her gaze steadily, lavender eyes flashing with amusement. Her Japanese is every bit as flawless as her partner's. "We know that to the vast majority of our kind, 'mates' are only brought up in the old legends. Soul mates, two halves of one being, destined lovers chosen by the stars. We've heard it all. And we've heard quite a lot about you, Sakura-san. You've become quite the revolutionary in the last six years, and we congratulate you on your efforts."

Sakura doesn't know exactly how to respond to this, so she mumbles out a quiet, "Arigatou."

Ariadne smiles. "It's our pleasure. Now, what'd I like you to do is take a good look at me. What am I?"

Were they messing with her? Eyes narrowed, Sakura replies, "You're a Pyte."

Kirashi steps in. "That's just the thing, Sakura-san. When I met Ariadne 4,000 years ago"—Sakura nearly chokes on her own spit at this; 4,000 years?—"she was twenty-three years old and every bit as human as the ones around us at this very moment."

Still reeling from the 4,000 years bit, Sakura stumbles, "We all believed we were human until the change came about—"

"I wasn't a natural-born Pyte, though," Ariadne says gently. "If it weren't for the fact that I met my mate, it's likely I would've died long ago and my reincarnation would be here instead of me."

"Are you meaning to say he changed you into a Pyte?" Not possible. Pytes couldn't be created. Only vampires, the ones that stemmed from Pytes. These people were utterly and completely asinine—

"That's exactly what I'm trying to say." There's not even an ounce of a lie in Ariadne's pale violet eyes.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" Naruto's voice—undoubtedly confused from only being able to speak English—calms her down immediately. As she takes a deep breath he continues, "Need me to tell these guys to fuck off?"

Sakura barks out a laugh. Leave it to him to bring humor to the situation.

"I've forgotten how crude the Americans can be," Kirashi says cooly in impeccable English. "But no, you won't need to tell us to 'fuck off' anytime soon. In fact I believe Ms. Haruno has plenty of questions she'd like to ask us, and if you reign in your foul mouth we might just let you be privy to the conversation."

Naruto's mouth falls slack and Sakura can't help the smile that grows on her face. Continuing on in English for Naruto's sake, she says, "He'll be good, I promise. How about we continue this in a more secluded place? There's too many open eyes and ears here."

Sakura grasps Naruto's hand and begins to lead him toward the hotel they rented a room from, laughing as he grumbles half-assed remarks the whole way.

When she glances back to make sure Kirashi and Ariadne are following, they smile at her in return, their hands folded perfectly together as they walk.

And when they look at each other, she's not sure she's ever before seen so much love communicated through such a simple action.

Kakashi looks up at Genma holding the door to his office open and scowls, pointing with fervor at the phone he is currently speaking into.

Scowling back, Genma cups his hands together and stage-whispers, "You have a visitor."

Kakashi spins around in his chair, effectively ignoring the other man. "Yes, Master Sentinel. Of course, Master Sentinel, I'll make sure to log that and—"

"It's Sakura, Kakashi!" Genma finally shouts.

Without missing a beat, Kakashi smiles into his phone and says, "I'm sorry, Master Sentinel, I'm afraid I'm going to have to call you back," and promptly hangs up. In the next second he is out of his chair and heading across the medium-sized room, leaving a shocked Genma in his wake as he steps into the hallway and nearly runs the pink-haired Pyte over in his haste.

"Whoa there, speed racer," she laughs into his chest before taking a step backward. "It's nice to see you too."

Kakashi smiles underneath his mask and places his hands on his shoulders, taking note in his peripheral vision of the three other bodies behind her. "If I had any idea you were coming I'd have set up a welcome party."

"Really?"

Kakashi ponders this for a moment and then shrugs. "Possibly."

Sakura grins. "It's been a long seven years, hasn't it?"

The older man laughs and pulls her into a loose hug. "That it has, Sakura. That it has."

"So I'm assuming you didn't stop by solely for the sake of saying hello?"

"Although I've missed you all dearly," Sakura sighs, "no. But I think what Kirashi and Ariadne have to tell you will make up for that."

"It is nice to meet you, Kakashi-san," Kirashi says, bowing his head toward the ground in respect. "My name is Kirashi, and this is my mate, Ariadne."

Ariadne bows her head as well.

Puzzled, Kakashi shoots a glance toward Sakura and then back to the couple. "Mate?"

"He'll explain everything," Sakura provides. "Don't worry—I was confused, too, at first."

"Well then, Kirashi-san," Kakashi says, leaning back in his seat, "let's hear it."

Kirashi smiles, ice blue eyes sparkling.

"For starters, I am the first Pyte ever created."

Beneath the mask Kakashi's jaw falls slack, but Kirashi continues on without a pause.

I was born to the Sumerian people in southern Mesopotamia, the general area in which Iraq now inhabits. Although not even I am sure of my exact age, according to historians I am around 5,000 years old, give or take a century. As I said before, I am the first Pyte ever to be born. You're probably wondering how I know this.

My mind is able to sense every single Pyte across the world, and I know exactly where the next Pyte for this century will appear and when they will change. When the change took over me 5,000 years ago, there was nothing. Only a blank haze filled my mind.

I didn't question it so much back then, too focused on figuring out what exactly I was and why I suddenly had two pointed fangs replacing my canine teeth and why my own family smelled like the most delicious meal I'd ever come across.

Thankfully I resisted the urge and ran away, leaving them behind. I only lasted for two days before the thirst became too much for me to handle, and I attacked the first human that crossed my path. Ashamed as I am to admit this, I drained her dry. At least she died with a pleasure-hazed mind.

I learned to control my urges as time went on, feeding only in small amounts without taking lives. I noticed after a few years that I hadn't aged a bit since the change. One day I got cornered by a group of men from the village I was passing through and they stabbed a pointed branch straight through my heart. When I woke up a day later, left out in the open to die with my wound completely healed, I realized that death was something I'd been able to escape. Whether I wanted it or not, immortality was something I'd been granted.

A hundred years after the change overtook me—of course time was told differently back then and it seemed to me to be a completely random occurrence at the time—it was like a world map had been unfolded in my brain and there was a single highlighted beacon pinned to it. I couldn't shake the visual of it from my mind, and after days of trying to fight it I found myself following my instincts. A good two-hundred miles away and a day's travel later I was standing at a poorly constructed mud hut inhabited by unknown people in an unknown land.

I smiled at the old woman who stepped outside of it and told her I was a doctor. It was the first thing that came to my mind, praying that she wouldn't turn me away when I, for some reason, so desperately needed to be where she lived.

Thankfully she ushered me inside and directed me to the sickly little boy off to the side. But I was all eyes for the young woman sitting next to him.

It was her. She was the beacon.

Over my hundred years of life I had actually become quite adept at analyzing the many faults that could overcome the human body and was able to set the boy's broken arm in a makeshift sling to allow it to heal. The old woman—the boy's grandmother—took me in for helping him, and I was able to stay with them for roughly the next year while the beacon remained like an alarm in my mind. After that year, the change overtook her, and suddenly I was not alone.

This has continued on for the last 5,000 years. Unbeknownst to my kin, I am there for them when their beacon shines strong in my mind, and I carefully keep to the shadows for that year before the change comes about. I make sure nothing too drastic happens until they learn to control their thirst, and then I wait the next hundred years for the next.

Now, Kakashi-san, I'm sure you're still wondering as to why I consider Ariadne my mate when you have probably brushed the term aside as some mere tale your entire life. But it is very much so a real thing.

You see, in between waiting for the eleventh beacon to show itself some 4,000 years ago, I went on a hunt. A hunt no different from the many I'd been on before. I was going to find a woman, take from her, and be on my way.

And then I came across Ariadne in the land known as Greece. She was beautiful—human—unlike anything I'd ever seen before, but more than that her blood called to me in a way that I cannot possibly put into words. Suddenly having her was the only thing I could think about, and luckily for me she seemed interested as well.

To keep things simple, we spent the night together and I could not help but steal from her lifestream. When I woke up the next morning, there was not a human beside me. No, somehow and for some reason I could not fathom, she woke up as a Pyte. I could smell the change on her.

Now I knew how vampires were created, having unfortunately done so myself before—the urge to perform the act had for some reason taken over my body and would not leave me until I followed my instincts and created a monster—and I can assure you not a drop of my blood came anywhere near her mouth for her to ingest.

And I'd never been one to believe in love at first sight. I don't think I even believed in love, actually. But when she opened her eyes—turned crimson with the change—and smiled up at me, I knew that that was what I felt for her.

I came to learn over the years that every Pyte's mate is reincarnated over and over until fate draws them together at exactly the right time. For example, the human is always roughly around the same age as the age his or her Pyte counterpart has been frozen at by the time the mating ritual takes place. All the Pyte has to do to change their mate is draw blood from them and engage in intercourse.

I hope this hasn't been too much to take in in such a short amount of time, Kakashi-san. But it's my story and it's all I have to offer.

The rest, in short, is history.

"Why have you chosen now, of all times, to come forth with this information?"

This is the first thing that leaves Kakashi's mouth.

Ariadne is the one who answers, voice soft and understanding. "When the Syndicate was in its very first stages of creation some thousand years ago, there was nothing any Pyte could do to lower the hostility the Sentinels felt toward us. They drove us back with any weapon they could muster, seeing only the lives of their loved ones stolen by the vampires the minority of our kind found a sick joy in creating. This is the first since that time that a generation of Master Sentinels has been so open-minded about the relationships between Pytes and Sentinels. Of course, we were especially interested in the one who started it all and has traveled the world in order to defend her cause." Ariadne turns her warm gaze to Sakura.

"In all honesty, Ariadne-san, it wasn't me who really allowed for all of this to happen." Sakura's smile dims a little, her eyes lost in memories the fours others in the room are not privy to. "There's a very special young man who believed in me enough to bring it up to the Masters himself."

"Sasuke would like to see you, I think, before you leave again," Kakashi says quietly. "It would hurt him only more if you left without telling him a second time."

Sakura winces, her gaze drawn to the floor. "I'm afraid I don't think I'd be able to handle seeing the loathing in his eyes, Head Sentinel." For the first time in years her voice cracks, and having heard the name "Sasuke" Naruto steps beside her and drapes an arm over her shoulders, offering comfort which she gladly takes. "He hates me now, I'm sure of it."

"Sakura, he's only confused," Kakashi responds softly. "Not that he ever tells me anything, but I'm guessing something happened all those years ago that you two never mended. He's twenty-four years old now, Sakura. I'm sure he can handle it."

In a voice so low she knows not even Kirashi or Ariadne can hear, she murmurs, "It's not him I'm worried about." Then she closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and when she opens them again any trace of pain is wiped away. "Not to be rude, but there is a prominent issue we all came to discuss with you. The information Kirashi-san has so kindly given wasn't just for your knowledge. We're headed for the Syndicate Headquarters tomorrow night, but I wanted you to hear this first."

A little thrown at the serious expression on Sakura's face, Kakashi leans forward with his elbows placed on the desk, keenly attentive. "Go on."

"The vampire leaders are joining forces"—at this Kakashi's one visible eye flies open wide—"to start a war against the Syndicate," Sakura says flatly, "and we all know that their numbers, sadly, vastly out do ours, Pytes and Sentinels combined. We need as many Pytes as we can get fighting for us, and Kirashi-san believes he can help pinpoint where their mates might be located so that they can join us. He heard the rumors about the vampire alliance a few months back and immediately came to find me. We took the time to make sure they weren't just rumors before gathering a few more Pytes from the Sentinel compounds I'd been expected at along the way and making our way back here."

Roughly raking his hand through his grey hair, Kakashi gnashes his teeth together and replies harshly, "When are they expected to start attacking?"

"Three months from now, in December. They're making sure everything is perfectly organized before they begin."

"And the vampire leaders are joining forces? They've tried that maybe once or twice in the past and ended up killing each other."

"Have you noticed how quiet it's been this past year, Kakashi-san?" Ariadne speaks up.

He knows exactly what she means. The number of vampire attacks dwindled to record low numbers over the course of the last twelve months, and while other Head Sentinels across the globe took it as a sign of the beginning of victory, Kakashi couldn't help the little nagging sensation in the back of his mind telling him something wasn't right.

Nodding her head at his silence, Ariadne continues, "They're learning. They've come to be more wary of their actions, looking over their shoulder before making a kill. With the majority of the twenty-two Pytes originally held captive now working alongside the Syndicate, they're taking it as the ultimate form of danger and are resorting to working together to prevent the extinction of their kind."

Kakashi remains silent for a few more moments, letting this information sink in. Finally, he says, "If what you said is true, Kirashi-san, there must be roughly fifty Pytes in existence right now."

"Fifty-eight exactly, actually," Kirashi responds. "Seven beside myself have already found their mates. This century's Pyte should be born within the next sixty years or so."

The Head Sentinel sighs and kneads his temples with his index fingers. "Now I know helping the other Pytes find their mates will increase our numbers, but is there any other significance to it than just that?"

Kirashi smiles a small smile. "Actually, there is. A mated Pyte is infinitely stronger physically than a non-mated Pyte, and a mated pair together is nearly indestructible."

"But aren't you already indestructible as you are?"

"How I am now, Head Sentinel, with Ariadne at my side, I could be hit with a hundred silver bullets in the heart or head and not black out even once."

Kakashi gapes not for the first time that day.

Kirashi leans down to press a kiss to Ariadne's blonde head, and she closes her eyes in response. "Unfortunately I tell you this from experience," he murmurs against her hair. "And I'm not saying it wasn't painful—in fact I've never experienced anything so horrific—but this woman beside me makes it all worth it."

They share a brief kiss, and the other three pairs of eyes in the room can't help but turn elsewhere, shying in the presence of such a simple yet powerful act.

After a mere two seconds, Kirashi's voice draws them to attention once again.

"Not to intrude upon your space, Head Sentinel, but if you would so kindly allow us to stay the night in any room you have open before our flight leaves for the Syndicate Headquarters tomorrow evening we would highly appreciate it."

Kakashi clears his throat. "Of course, it's no problem. Room 412 on the fifth floor is open at the moment for the two of you. Sakura, your old room hasn't been occupied since you left, so you can go ahead and stay there. As for your friend"—he gestures toward Naruto—"there's a room on the eleventh floor—"

"Naruto will room with me, if you don't mind," Sakura cuts in. Said male's confused look only increases at having his name being spoken.

At this, Kakashi raises a single grey brow, causing Sakura to roll her eyes. "He's a good friend of mine, Head Sentinel, and honestly I've grown to like his company. Does this bother you?"

Kakashi only shakes his head in amusement, waving his hand at her in dismissal. She laughs and turns to the three Pytes beside her. In English she says, "You guys go on without me. I'll be there in a second to show you to your rooms."

The moment the door closes behind them she asks, "Is he here?"

Her nose—ever so specially inclined to Sasuke's scent—tells her he's been gone for at least three days, but she wants to make sure anyhow.

Kakashi lets out a heavy sigh and fixes her with a stern glare. "He left on a mission three days ago and from the last report his team gave they shouldn't be back until after you leave."

Sakura lets out a breath she isn't aware she was holding. "Thank you, Head Sentinel."

"Call me Kakashi. You'd think we were on close enough terms by now."

She smiles genuinely. "Thank you, Kakashi. I'll see you in the morning, then?"

He nods. "In the morning."

It's only when she's long gone that he looks down at the last report Sasuke sent him earlier that day, detailing that they'll be back around sunrise tomorrow. He feels guilty for about a second, but then his mind flashes him a picture from seven years prior, the night Sakura left with a goodbye to everyone but the last Uchiha.

Any trace of guilt fades instantly when he recalls the utterly lost look Sasuke wore upon learning that the girl he loved left him without a word, unsure if he'd ever be able to see her again.

Unsurprisingly she and Naruto are up at 5:30 in the morning, both having an internal alarm clock set from years of being on the run from those that might endanger them. Naruto awakes first, and Sakura comes to with the soothing feeling of his long fingers playing with the soft, fine pale pink hairs surrounding her face. She hums in pleasure and feels him shift to press a kiss to her shoulder.

"Screw this whole mate thing," he mumbles against her skin. "I'd take you over some random girl any day."

Laughing softly, she arches her t-shirt clad back against his bare chest to stretch, then turns over in his arms and stares up into his clear blue eyes. "I'm sure she'll be perfect," Sakura murmurs, meaning every word.

Naruto sighs, obviously not believing her, then brushes his lips against her forehead before rolling gracefully out of the bed. He pulls at his arms to stretch them, then twists his torso from side to side.

She's not blind. Naruto is a very handsome man, with classical American blonde hair and a face many girls would—and have—swoon over. Having grown up in the Revolutionary days in the later half of the eighteenth century and served as an American soldier, he's seen more bloodshed than most Pytes older than him and isn't without his fair share of scars—even if the change wiped away those visible on the outside.

They met in the first years of his immortal life as a Pyte, and he instantly looked to her for guidance. On the inside he was a frightened boy who had done everything to protect his aging parents during the war. It tore him apart to have to leave them because of what he'd become, and she did her best to alleviate some of that pain over the short time they traveled together. They came across each other briefly a few years prior to her capture, and he was a new man who was content and had accepted the life fate had served him. He was a shameless flirt, always trying some way or the other to bed her, but she only slept with men to feed, and she was stern in enforcing that.

Not that he didn't offer his blood anyhow. She just politely smacked him upside the head and was on her merry way.

Now she considers him to be her best friend and she his. Every now and then he'll hint at her, trying to get her to reconsider, and with one look he's quiet again.

But she's not blind, and as he goes through one more stretch she admires the way his toned abs flex perfectly in her line of sight.

"You know," he says, looking at her with amusement dancing in his blue eyes, "all you have to do is ask and I'm yours.

"That's not very nice," he whines as the pillow she threw at him drops from his face.

And for a moment she does consider the prospect. But, like always, Sasuke's face appears in her mind before she can even formulate a coherent thought. His dark obsidian gaze locked on her as she holds still below him. His ten-year-old face drawn into curiosity as she begins a new story from her place in that godawful cell. His closed-off expression the very last time they spoke seven years ago.

And she'll be damned if she doesn't admit to herself that those seven years have been the longest of her entire existence.

"Aren't you going to put a shirt on?" she says as she sips her coffee.

Naruto eyes her over the book he found lying around, the beginning rays of the sunrise highlighting his blonde hair. "I'd like you to remember that you're wearing mine. You stole it last night, remember? So unless you'd like to do me a very good favor and give me a strip tease, no, I will not put a shirt on."

Sakura purses her lips. "Touché."

He smirks.

Finished with her coffee, she rises from her place on the chair opposite him and pads over to join him on the couch, fitting comfortably into his side as he lifts his arm to draw her closer. She rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes, relishing in the warmth both he and the sun—but then again, weren't they one and the same?—bring to her.

And then she hears the front door open four floors below them, and it takes about six seconds for his scent to travel up to her trained nose.

Instantly she stiffens and halts the flow of air to her lungs. Naruto takes immediate notice of this change, grabbing her by the shoulders and staring at her with concerned eyes. "What's wrong, Sakura? What's the matter?"

She watches as he inhales, scenting the air for danger, and when he finds none his gaze grows confused.

They're still on the first floor. Kurenai, the only one up before them—apparently she's pregnant again and the morning sickness refuses to let her sleep—laughs at something Kiba—all of these voices are so stunningly clear to her, even after having changed so much the seven years she's been gone—has said.

A few more words are exchanged. Sakura recognized Hinata's voice along with Shino's, and of course he remains silent. Then the voices move four floors below her, heading toward the back of the building where the elevator is located.

Hinata lives on this floor. The boys are on the sixth.

Sakura calculates that she has exactly thirteen point nine seconds before those metal doors slide open, and then he'll see her sitting here in the lounge area—located directly in front of the elevator shoot so that it's the first thing anyone sees when they step out—as if everything is peachy in the world and she did not leave him behind without even saying goodbye seven years ago.

He's twenty-four now. She wonders what he looks like, a fully grown man.

Eleven point two seconds.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit—

He must hate her. The look in his eyes when she told him she still thought of him as a child—he hates her, she knows it.

"Sakura, seriously, you're freaking me out here." Naruto.

Nine point three.

"He's here," she whispers.

Her eyes are glued to those doors. Waiting. She hears Kiba laugh again, then Hinata's soft voice.

They're getting closer.

Seven point one.

"Who?" Naruto sounds desperate. "Sakura, come on, help me out—"

"It's Sasuke. Sasuke's here."

Kakashi, that lying bastard. Oh, when she gets her hands on him she's going to wring his neck and make him wish he were never born—

"Oh." Naruto's stunned. "Well, shit."

Three point five.

Naruto squeezes her hand hard, letting her know he's here, letting her know that if all else fails he'll always be there to comfort her.

Two point four.

"It'll be okay." His voice is soothing.

One point six.

Sasuke. Sasukesasukesasukesasukesasuke—

Point seven.

Ding.

The doors, in her eyes, seem to open in slow motion, so that centimeter by centimeter Kiba's grinning face becomes visible with Shino silently leaning against the wall beside him, Akamaru between them, then Hinata's soft smile as she moves her foot to begin to step out, and finally Sasuke's unmoving form directly behind her, blocked by her small body.

Sakura watches as the smile drops from Hinata's face, who notices her first, and then from Kiba's, their laughter coming to a sudden, deathly-quiet halt. Shino moves to glance around Kiba, curious.

Sasuke doesn't move at all, but from what she can tell his black-haired head is tilted toward the ground just enough that he'll have to lift it to see her.

Naruto's hand tightens almost imperceptibly around hers.

For a moment, she locks eyes with Hinata and pleads with her silently to take those last two steps and let the doors close behind her and have the boys be on their way up to the next floor. Hinata's pale violet eyes are wide, clearly not registering Sakura's plea.

Please, she mouths.

But then Hinata's lips part and she whispers, "Sasuke-san," at the same time stepping completely out of the elevator and standing to the side, giving all three males a perfect view of the two Pytes on the couch.

Again, in slow motion, Sasuke's eyes unlock themselves from studying the floor and lazily make their way up, dragging over Sakura's checkered blue and white pajama pants, then up to Naruto's over-large bright orange t-shirt, and finally to her face.

All she can think is Sasuke. His name, repeated over and over again in her mind like a broken record.

But what escapes her mouth is a small, wavering, "Little one?"

He stares at her. And stares and stares and stares.

Kiba has to throw his arm out to keep the elevator doors from closing, and yet Sasuke never moves or takes his eyes away from hers.

He's so handsome. Her little one, grown up into such a beautiful, handsome man. It makes her eyes want to water with tears she is no longer able to cry. She screams at herself on the inside. Screams for leaving and not being able to watch him grow up like she should have been, for not being there by his side like she should have been.

After all these years keeping the part of her heart labeled Sasuke in non-erasable, permanent ink locked up and pushed aside, the dam is breaking loose, and there is nothing she can do to stop it.

Finally, she feels Naruto huff a breath beside her, and with one last squeeze of her hand he pulls her to her feet alongside him and gives her a little push forward.

Frightened like she's never been before, she glances back at him wildly, and he shoots her a lopsided grin. "Go on," he mouths.

Still staring at him, she nods shakily and forces her feet to move, closer and closer to the open elevator that is only a mere fifteen feet away. She locks eyes with Sasuke and finally breathes in for the first time since she smelled him. So close to her now, his scent burns down her throat, a raging fire that makes her mouth water and her fangs want to drop.

Sakura ignores it like she has so many times before.

Another step, and another.

Until, finally, she's standing right in front of him in the elevator, mere inches separating them. She's vaguely aware that Kiba and Shino have exited the small space and that the doors are now closing behind them.

None of it matters. Only him, standing before her. Only her little one.

She can't pinpoint the emotions in his eyes, so frighteningly blank they are. All she sees is dark, endless obsidian staring down at her.

He's tall. A good head taller than her. It makes her want to laugh. She remembers when he could barely reach her shoulder.

The elevator is moving now, probably up to the sixth floor.

The silence is overwhelming, his gaze not giving her any clues.

Her little one.

Without thinking, she does what instinct tells her to do and steps forward, bringing her arms up to wrap around his torso, pulling herself as close to him as physically possible, her forehead pressed to the sharp line of his collarbone.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "God, you don't even know how sorry I am."

The doors open and close again behind them, and still he is silent, unmoving.

Sakura breathes out a laugh that she doesn't feel. "Yeah, I understand you not wanting to talk to me," she exhales. Slowly, she begins to pull away, unlocking her arms from around him. "I mean, I wouldn't want to talk to me either. So, um, I guess I'll just be on my way then. Naruto must be worried—"

"Why?" His moving lips and voice are the only things that change of his frightfully un-altering form.

Not only in his looks has he grown. His voice has deepened with age, now a smooth yet husky timbre. It sends chills down her spine.

She knows exactly what he is asking, but she is not at all prepared for this conversation. Not now, and not minutes before the thought of having this talk with him hadn't even vaguely crossed her mind. For the first time in her entire existence, Sakura is left with no clue as to what to say.

But that's okay, because for the first time since she's known him Sasuke purposely breaks the silence and presses on. His eyes are slowly losing their expressionless glaze and beginning to spark with anger, obsidian coals being heated by flames.

"You leave for seven fucking years," he says lowly, tone smooth and controlled—only his eyes give away the storm brewing within, "and then you just suddenly reappear with no warning whatsoever. Who the hell do you think you are?"

Sakura can only keep her mouth shut and take his words that slice her heart into little slivers because she knows everything he has said and is going to say is nothing but the truth.

"I went to the Master Sentinels and argued with them for days, fought them for days. I was willing to give my life so that you could live yours freely." His voice drops to nearly a whisper. "We finally had the chance to do anything we wanted. And you left. You just upped and left like those nine years together didn't mean shit to you."

Sakura closes her eyes and soaks his words in. She lets them tear her apart one inch at a time from the inside out until she feels closer to death than any silver bullet to the head has ever brought her.

He steps around her—staying as close to the walls as he possibly can so as not to touch her—and presses a button on the elevator operation pad. A few seconds later the metallic doors ding open and Sasuke's warmth disappears from her side.

She's never felt so cold.

"I don't want to see you here ever again," Sasuke continues flatly. "I don't care what Kakashi thinks; anyone who betrays the people that love them is an enemy to me, and I won't hesitate in utilizing my weapons against you. You may not be able to die but I'll make sure you come as close as possible."

She almost wants to laugh.

Joke's on him. That's already happened.

"You left once," he ends quietly. She's still standing in the same spot, eyes glued to the grey interior of the elevator. "You're not welcomed into my life again, so I suggest you leave as soon as possible."

And the elevator doors close behind her.

Comburo (Latin): to burn up, to ruin, consume

A/N: No, this is not a dream, and yes, I really did just update this story. Holy crap it's been forever, and I won't be surprised if most of you hate me right now. I kinda even hate myself. This last school year was a pain in the ass, but now summer is here and I had a sudden burst of inspiration to write again, so here I am.

Thank you guys for waiting; as much as you must loathe me I still love you all.

~Silver Echo